World News

American wins Marathon

by
The Canadian Press | Story:
113481 -
Apr 21, 2014 / 9:44 am

Photo: The Canadian Press

Meb Keflezighi, of the United States, leads Josphat Boit, also from the United States, passed Wellesley College during the 118th Boston Marathon Monday, April 21, 2014 in Wellesley. (AP Photo/Mary Schwalm)

Update -- 9:45 a.m.

American Meb Keflezighi has won the Boston Marathon, a year after a bombing at the finish line left three dead and more than 260 people injured.

Keflezighi is a former New York City Marathon champion and Olympic medallist.

He ran the 26.2 miles from Hopkinton to the finish on Boylston Street in Boston's Back Bay on Monday in 2 hours, 8 minutes, 37 seconds.

Keflezighi held off Wilson Chebet of Kenya who finished 11 seconds behind. The 38-year-old from San Diego looked over his shoulder several times over the final mile. After realizing he wouldn't be caught, he raised his sunglasses, began pumping his right fist and made the sign of the cross.

No U.S. runner had won the race since Lisa Larsen-Weidenbach took the women's title in 1985; the last American man to win was Greg Meyer in 1983.

And Boston Marathon survivor Marc Fucarile threw out the ceremonial first pitch before the Red Sox traditional Patriots Day game.

Fucarile, who lost his right leg in last year's bombing, walked with a prosthetic and a cane to the mound Monday before the game against the Baltimore Orioles.

The 35-year-old native of Stoneham, Mass., handed his cane to a companion, wound up and threw to former Red Sox outfielder Kevin Millar.

The pitch marked a return to Fenway Park for Fucarile, who married his longtime fiancee Jennifer Regan at Fenway last week.

The couple had delayed their wedding while Fucarile recovered from serious injuries.

A large police presence greeted runners and spectators filtering in Monday morning for the Boston Marathon, a year after a pair of homemade pressure-cooker bombs near the finish line killed three people and wounded more than 260 others.

Despite heightened security, the mood was festive at the finish line on Boylston Street. Spontaneous applause broke out as a group of Boston police officers walked near the site of last year's twin bombing and children danced as the Rolling Stones' song "Start Me Up" blared over the loudspeakers.

About 36,000 runners registered for the race — the second-largest field in its history, many of them coming to show support for the event and the city that was shocked by the attack on its signature sporting event.

"I can't imagine the number of emotions that are going to be there," said Katie O'Donnell, who was running the marathon last year and made it 25 1/2 miles before she was stopped less than a mile from the finish line when the bombs exploded. "I think I'm going to start crying at the starting line and I'm not sure I'll stop until I cross the finish line."

The most obvious change for the 118th edition of the world's oldest annual marathon was the heavy security presence. State and local police officers were everywhere, even on the rooftops of some buildings.

Helicopters circled above and bomb-sniffing dogs checked through trash cans. Yet for all the security, the atmosphere was calm and friendly.

"I think everybody is being very pleasant," said Jean Bertschman, a Hopkinton resident who comes to watch the start of the marathon most years and had never seen anything close to this level of security. "I think it's going to be a very good race."

Buses bearing the message "Boston Strong" dropped off runners. A banner on one building read: "You are Boston Strong. You Earned This."

Spectators went through tight security checkpoints before being allowed near Hopkinton Common.

"There'll be considerably more police presence," Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick said Sunday on CBS' "Face the Nation." ''But we also don't want to have it, you know, kind of a race through a militarized zone. So it's about striking a balance, and I think we have struck that balance."

Runners attending the event will have to use clear plastic bags for their belongings, and fans hoping to watch near the finish line are encouraged to leave strollers and backpacks behind. More than 100 cameras have been installed along the route in Boston, and 50 or so "observation points" will be set up around the finish line "to monitor the crowd," the Boston Athletic Association said.

Patrick said there have been no specific threats against the race or the city for the Massachusetts holiday of Patriots' Day.

Race organizers expanded the field from its recent cap of 27,000 to make room for more than 5,000 runners who were still on the course last year at the time of the explosions, for friends and relatives of the victims and for those who made the case that they were "profoundly impacted" by the attack.

Lelisa Desisa of Ethiopia and Kenya's Rita Jeptoo, who crossed the finish line on Boylston Street about three hours before the explosions, will return to defend their championships. Desisa returned to Boston last fall to donate his first-place medal to the city as a gesture of support.

Jeptoo, who also won the race in 2006, said she is hoping for a third victory — and one she can enjoy.

"It was very difficult to be happy. People were injured and children died," she said of last year's marathon. "If I'm going to win again, I hope I can be happier and to show people, like I was supposed to last year."

Authorities say two ethnic Chechen brothers who lived in the former Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan and the Dagestan region of Russia planned and orchestrated the marathon bombings on April 15, 2013.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, died following a shootout with police days after the bombings. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 20, has pleaded not guilty to federal charges and is awaiting a trial in which he faces a possible death sentence. Prosecutors say the brothers also killed MIT police Officer Sean Collier days after the bombings in an attempt to steal his gun.

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